Release Your Anger, And Mix Your Metaphors: Wil Wheaton Tells Infant Why Geekdom Is Awesome

Unless you are a geek of a certain age, say about 35 and older, it is hard to understand the hatred that fandom had, during Star Trek: The Next Generation’s original run, for Ensign Wesley Crusher.

If you were of an age to grow up on original Star Trek reruns, with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch and “Dammit Jim!” and green alien chicks getting the Captain Kirk Slam (definition: railing someone to the rhythm of that “dun dun DUN! DUN! DUN! DUN! DUN! dun dun dun!” song from when Kirk fought Spock in the ring during Amok Time), the debut of The Next Generation, with its calm and measured captain and its Klingon on the bridge and its actual adherence to the Prime Directive, was hard to get used to on its face… without having a precocious teenager on the bridge doing particle physics and rewiring the warp core and generally acting like, well, anyone else on the bridge except with (presumably) wispier pubes.

Fandom’s hatred of that character was palpable, most obviously and continually evidenced by the late 90s Usenet discussion group. At the time, it seemed that nothing could redeem the character, or Wil Wheaton, the actor who portrayed him.

That, of course, was then. Now, in 2013, Wheaton is a widely-respected geek genre actor, writer and icon, and the reaction many people had to Wesley Crusher seems as silly as it should, considering he was a character in a franchise that also gave us Tribbles and “Double dumb ass on you!”

But nevertheless: that negative passion was there in the 80s… but Wheaton doesn’t dwell on that, even though he’d pretty much have every right. And here’s the proof: at this weekend’s Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, a fan asked Wheaton to record a message to her infant daughter explaining why being a nerd is a good thing. And Wheaton, who took such a beating from fandom once upon a time that even Jake Lloyd sometimes pities him, recorded a four-minute message to this child emphasizes everything good and cool and awesome about being a geek of any stripe. And you can check that out after the jump.

Yeah, that “how you love a thing” was what made people so vehement about the Wesley character back in the 80s – people loved Star Trek and railed against something they saw as not working… it was that whole “be kind” thing some of us forgot back in the early days of instant international communication.

With that said: Star Trek V sucks the root, and Shatner shouldn’t be allowed to direct traffic on a one-way dirt road in East Asshat, New Mexico.

(via The Mary Sue)